But while estimates for salary increases were conservative — ranging from 2.6 to 3.1 per cent — those numbers could still fluctuate a small amount.

“What we’re seeing, generally, is that although you get about 500 companies responding, they break down into sort of two (groups) — those who’ve already agreed on their pay review for next year and it’s already locked in, and those who are giving us basically an estimate,” says Nick Bishop, senior principal at Hay Group in Calgary.